Egyptian Eden

Pharaoh drives Israel out of Egypt (Exodus 12:39), just as Yahweh drove Adam and Eve from Eden (Genesis 3:24) and Cain from the land (Genesis 4:14).

The analogy could work in several directions. Israel has eaten forbidden fruit in Egypt, and Yahweh drives them from the good land of Goshen into the wilderness. As Adam was thrust out of Eden to rule the earth, so Israel is thrust out of Egypt to become a people of the heavens, like stars. Perhaps Egypt is a fallen Eden, a Sodom from which Israel is fortunate to escape.

The verb “drive out” ( garash ) is used twelve times in Exodus, sometimes of Israel’s forced departure from Egypt but a number of times of Israel’s forced expulsion of the Canaanites from the Eden land. The people thrust out becomes the people that thrusts out.